Textile finishing process and product produced thereby

ABSTRACT

This disclosure describes a process for producing vapor transmissible polymer coated textile fabrics, and, in addition, vapor transmissible water resistant fabrics. The vapor transmissible textile fabrics are prepared by applying to the fabric a composition comprising a polymer compound having particular film stiffening temperatures and a wax, and thereafter heating the fabric and the composition to a temperature of at least about 150*C. to volatilize some of the wax. The preparation of the vapor transmissible water resistant fabrics involves an additional and subsequent treatment with a water repellent composition followed by drying and, optionally, curing at a temperature of at least 150*C. These latter fabrics are particularly useful in the preparation of rainwear.

United States Patent 1 Thomas 1 I Jan. 30, 1973 [54] TEXTILE FINISHINGPROCESS AND PRODUCT PRODUCED THEREBY [75] Inventor: Manuel A. Thomas,Spartanburg,

[22] Filed: Nov. 16, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 90,108

[52] US. Cl. ..1l7/l35.5, 117/138 F, 117/l39.4, 117/161 UB, 117/161 UC,117/161 UT [51] Int. Cl. ..C09d 5/00 [58] Field of Search ..117/135.5,16] UB, 16] UC, 117/161 UT, 138.8 F; 260/29.6 TA, 29.6 T,

4/1965 Shippee etal. ..m/msx 4/1966 Caldwell etal .ll7/135.5

Primary Examiner-William D. Martin Assistant Examiner-Theodore G. DavisAttorneyNorman C. Armitage, H. William Petry and Armand P. Boisselle[57] ABSTRACT This disclosure describes a process for producing vaportransmissible polymer coated textile fabrics,

and, in addition, vapor transmissible water resistant fabrics. The vaportransmissible textile fabrics are prepared by applying to the fabric acomposition comprising a polymer compound having particular filmstiffening temperatures and a wax, and thereafter heating the fabric andthe composition to a temperature of at least about 150C. to volatilizesome of the wax. The preparation of the vapor transmissible waterresistant fabrics involves an additional and subsequent treatment with awater repellent composition followed by drying and, optionally, curingat a temperature of at least 150C. These latter fabrics are particularlyuseful in the preparation of rainwear.

12 Claims, No Drawings TEXTILE FINISHING PROCESS AND PRODUCT PRODUCEDTHEREBY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a processfor finishing textile materials and, more specifically, to a process fortreating textile fabrics to provide fabrics having improved vaportransmission and optionally, water resistant characteristics. Theinvention also relates to the products prepared by these processes.

Considerable effort currently is being devoted in the industry toproduce lightweight rainwear fabrics which have exceptional waterresistance and air and vapor transmissibility without appreciable lossof aesthetic properties. Some of the currently used processes involvesthe application of polymeric or resinous compositions to textile fabricsto provide them with water resistant capabilities. Various chemicalcompounds such as vinyl, acrylic and urethane polymers as well asfluorocarbon and silicone chemicals have been employed to this end.

Many of the techniques and processes which have been utilized hereforhave resulted in fabrics having excellent water resistant properties butlacking in vapor transmission. The absence of acceptable vaportransmission results in discomfort to the wearer of the garment and,therefore, considerable effort has been made to prepare textile fabricshaving both of these desirable properties. A further requirement of thetreatments applied to textile fabrics concerns the servicability of thefinishes. The finishes should be permanent to laundering or drycleaning. 7

Some prior art processes have employed leaching operations to form thenecessary porosity in the chemical coatings applied to the fabrics.These processes involve the incorporation of such chemicals as starch orsalts into the coatings which are subsequently leached out with variouschemicals to produce the desired porosity. This, of course, requiresadditional chemicals and involves additional processing steps which addappreciably to the cost of producing the fabrics.

It has been suggested in U. S. Pat. No. 2,913,427 that water repellentarticles can be prepared by treating textile substrates with a mixturecomprising a solvent, copolymer, wax and a wax compatible hardeningresin, and drying the fabric at room temperature or at a temperature upto about 83C. Fabrics prepared in this manner, however, do not exhibitgenerallyv acceptable vapor transmissible characteristics.

SUMMARY OFTHElNVENTlON These problems have been overcome by providing aprocess whereby textile fabrics are treated with a compositioncomprising a polymer compound having a film stiffening temperaturebetween about 10 and 50C. and a wax having a melting point in the rangebetween about to 90C., and heating the fabric and the composition to atemperature to at least about 150C. to volatilize some of the wax.Fabrics treated in accordance with this process exhibit improved vaportransmission. Where such fabrics are to be utilized in the preparationof rainwear, they are given an additional treatment with a. waterrepellent composition and dried at a temperature of about 150C. at whichtime additional wax is volatilized producing a porous and vaportransmissible coating on the fabric.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Any polymer compound having afilm stiffening temperature between about -l0 and 50C. can be utilizedin the process of this invention. The film stiffening temperature is awidely used criterion for characterizing the degree of softness ofpolymer systems and is the temperature at which the torsional modulus ofan air dried film of the polymer is 300 kg/cm (ASTM 1053451; 35 milfilm). Acrylic polymers are an example of the type of polymer which canbe prepared having the desired film stiffening temperaturecharacteristics. These polymers may be homopolymersor copolymers ofacrylates having both ester groups and groups that are capable ofcross-linking with the polymeric chain under properly catalyzedconditions. In general, the polymers utilized in this invention willhave molecular weights ranging from several hundred, i.e., 300 to about2,000,000, and will be comprised of an acrylic monomer having an estergroup and a side chain group that is comprised of a compound havingepoxide, carboxyl and/or methylol groups. Among the most preferredacrylates are the alkyl acrylate monomers such as methyl acrylate, ethylacrylate, propyl acrylate, butyl acrylate, amyl acrylate, etc.,including 12 carbon atom alkyl acrylates. Within this particular group,the butyl acrylate polymers havinga molecular weight in the range of1,000 to 1,000,000 are preferred.

The above acrylic monomers may be reacted with copolymerizable compoundssuch as for example, glycidyl acrylate, acrylic acid, methacrylic acid,acrylic anhydride, glycol esters of methacrylic acid, acrylamide and themethylol acrylamides.

The copolymerization of these acrylic monomers can i be carried out withpersulfate or peroxide catalysts or with redox catalyst systems inaccordance with well known procedures. Alternatively, self-crosslinkingacrylic polymers maybe obtained from mixtures of acrylic esters withmethylol acrylamides. Other copolymerizable monomers alsomay be presentsuch as small amounts of acrylonitrile. The presence of the methylolacrylamide in the water-insoluble acrylic polymers provides thedesirable self-crosslinking properties to the polymer thus enabling theapplication, deposition and curing of the polymer on the substratewithout the necessity for including crosslinking of curing agents whichmight deleteriously affect the desirable properties of the coatings.Therefore, the acrylic polymer is designed to be, self-crosslinking byincorporating therein from about-0.5to5 percent by weight of a methylolacrylamide, based on the weight of the other polymerizable components ofthe monomer mixture. Generally, from about 2 to 3 percent of themethylol acrylamide is utilized.

Acrylonitrile often is included in the acrylic polymer mixture toimprove the durability of the polymer to dry cleaning solvents. Theacrylic polymer composition, therefore, often will comprise from aboutto parts of an acrylic ester, from two to 15 parts of acrylonitrile andfrom 0.5 to five parts, based on the combined weight of the acrylicester and acrylonitrile, of a methylolacrylamide.

Examples of water-insoluble, self-crosslinking acrylic polymers whichare preferred for use in this invention include polymers obtained frommixtures comprising:

90 parts of ethyl acrylate, parts of acrylonitrile and three parts,based on the combined weight of the ester and acrylonitrile, ofN-methylol acrylamide; and 90 parts of butyl acrylate, 10 parts ofacrylonitrile and two parts, based on the combined weight of theacrylate and acrylonitrile, of N-methylol acrylamide. These acrylicpolymers generally are prepared utilizing emulsion polymerization.techniques. Emulsions of these types are commercially available from theRohm and Haas Company under such trade designations as R- hoplex K-14which has a film stiffening temperature of -47C. and Rhoplex K-87 whichhas a film stiffening temperature of l 8C. These polymers are believedto contain at least major proportions of butyl acrylate polymersgenerally coreacted with acrylonitrile and N- methylol acrylamide.

In addition to the acrylic polymer, the composition applied to thefabric also contains a wax having a melting point in the range of fromabout 15 to 90C. The waxes used in the compositions of the invention arereferred to in the art as paraffin wax and as microcrystalline wax.Microcrystalline wax also is known as amorphous wax and is obtained bydewaxing residual lubricating oils. Theparaffin waxes areobtainedusually by the dewaxing of distillate lubricating oil fractions. Theparaffin waxes usually have a melting point below about 60C. whereas themicrocrystalline waxes which contain only minor amounts of normalparaffin have slightly higher melting points. Low melting saturatedhydrocarbonwaxes are particularly useful and these include thehydrocarbon-waxes having melting pointsbetweenaabout 15 and 60C.Examples of such waxes include hexadecane (melting point of 18C.),heptadecane, octadecane, docosane, hexacosane and heptacosane. I

The amount of wax incorporated into the compositions'of the acrylicpolymers is not critical although water vapor transmissioncharacteristics of thecoated fabrics is dependent upon the amount andmelting point of the wax in the composition. Thus, atleast about 10percent by weight of the coating composition of wax is necessary if theimprovement in the vapor transmission is to be significant. When largeramounts of the wax are incorporated in the polymer composition, thewater vapor transmission of the fabric is increased. Generally, thepolymer compositions will contain from about 10 to 75 percent by weightof wax.

The wax-containing polymer composition can be applied to the textilefabric substrate either in organic solvents or in aqueous media. Aqueousdispersions or emulsions are preferred for reasons for economy andconvenience, and particularly because the commercially available acrylicpolymers are available as aqueous emulsions. In some instances, smallamounts of catalysts may be added to expedite the curing of thecomposition. Examples of such catalysts include ammonium chloride,citric acid, oxalic acid, zinc chloride and ammonium citrate. Thecompositions also may contain varying amounts of thickeners to increasethe viscosity of the composition as the application technique mayrequire. Examples of such thickeners include the well known thickenerssuch as gum, methyl celluloses such as the Methocels available from theDow Chemical Company, and neutralized polyacrylates. The polyacrylatesare favored because they are relatively water resistant in film form.

The wax-containing polymeric compositions can be applied to the textilefabric by any of the known techniques such as, for example, padding,dipping, spraying, knife-coating, etc. The solutions or dispersions areapplied to the textile fabric substrate to provide a wet pickup of-about50 percent by weight based on the weight of the fabric and a solidspickup of about 20 percent by weight.

The fabrics which can be treated in accordance with the process of thisinvention may be made of any fibrous material including natural fiberssuch as cotton or wool, and synthetic fibers such as rayon, polyester,polyamides and blends thereof. Fabrics which have been found to beespecially suitable for the preparation of rainwear are the cellulosecontaining fabrics prepared from cotton, regenerated cellulose such asviscose rayon, and preferably blends of cellulosic fibers and syntheticpolymer fibers such as polyesters, polyamides and acrylic fibers. Blendsof polyester fibers and cotton fibers are most often utilized wherein atleast equal proportions of polyesters are found such as for example, ablend of 65 percent polyester and 35 percent cotton. The fabricsprepared from these fibers-are generally fabrics in knitted, woven ornon-woven form.

After the wax-containing polymeric composition has been applied to thefabric and dried, it is essential that the fabric and the coatingcomposition be heated to a temperature of at least C This post-heatingoperation is essential in order to volatilize some of the wax in thecomposition to improve the vapor transmission characteristics of thefabrics from an unacceptable to an acceptable level. It is believed thatthe post-heating operation results in a volatilization and subsequentremoval of a portion of the wax creating micropores in the coating. Inthis manner, the vapor transmission characteristics are improved. In theabsence of the wax, heating of the polymer coated fabrics attemperatures greater than 150C. does not significantly improve the vaportransmission characteristics. In general, the waxcontaining coatings ofthis invention are heated at temperatures of from about 150 to 200C. forperiods of at least 1 minute and preferably from about 2 to 4 minutesalthough longer heating times may be utilized.

Fabric having improved water repellent characteristics in addition tovapor transmission, for example, rainwear fabrics, are prepared from theabove-coated fabrics by giving them an additional treatment with a waterrepellent composition. One type of water repellent coating compositionwhich has been found to be useful for the purposes of this invention isthe fluorochemical type textile finishes often referred to asfluorocarbon compounds which have the ability to impart water and oilrepellent properties to textile materials. These compounds may bedefined as reactive organic compounds in which a high percentage of thehydrogen attached. to carbon has been replaced by fluorine. Fluorocarboncompounds which have particular utility in this invention are acrylatesand methacrylates of hydroxyl compounds containing a highly fluorinatedresidue and their polymers and copolymers. Compounds of this type aredescribed in greater detail in such patents as US. Pat. Nos. 2,642,416;2,826,564; 2,839,513; and 2,803,615. Other fluorochemical compoundswhich can be employed as oil and water repellents include the chromiumcoordination complexes of saturated perfluoromonocarboxylic acids ofwhich the chromium complexes of perfluorobutyric acid andperfluorooctanoic acid are representative. These compounds are describedin the Journal of Textile Research, Volume 28, pages 233-241 (1958).Fluorochemical compounds suitable for the process of this invention areavailable commercially, such as, for example, those marketed under thetrademark of Zepel by E. l. du Pont de Nemours & Company and under thetrademark of Scotchgard by the Minnesota Mining and ManufacturingCompany.

The polymeric fluorocarbon water repellent compounds may be applied tothe fabric either in solvents or as aqueous solutions. The concentrationof the fluorocarbon may be varied in accordance with the particularapplication although generally from about 0.5 to 5 percent offluorocarbon is deposited on the fabric. The fluorocarbon can be appliedin any manner and dried at room temperature or at elevated temperatures.

Textile resins may be applied to the coated fabrics in conjunction withthe fluorocarbon compounds. That is, the fluorocarbon compounds may becombined with a textile resin in an aqueous solution which is thenapplied to the fabrics. The term textile resin includes both monomersand polymers which when applied to the textile material and when reactedunder proper conditions undergo polymerization and/or crosslinking andare transformed to the thermoset state. Catalysts also may be includedin order to facilitate the curing to the thermoset state. The curedtextile resins afford the textile material durable press and/or wrinkleresistant characteristics.

The general classes of textile resins contemplated as being usefulinclude the epoxy, acetal, methylol and aminoplast resins, theaminoplast resins being preferred. Specific examples of textile resinsand monomers which may be employed with the fluorocarbon compoundinclude: the urea formaldehydes such as propylene urea formaldehyde,dimethylol urea formaldehyde; melamine formaldehydes such astetramethylol melamines; ethylene ureas such .as dimethylol ethyleneurea, dihydroxy dimethylol ethylene urea and hydroxy ethylene ureaformaldehyde; carbamates such as alkyl carbamate formaldehydes; alkylolamides such as methylol formamide acrylamides such as N-methylolacrylamide, N- methylol methacrylamide and N-methyl methylol acrylamide;triazones such as dimethylol-N-ethyltriazone; and haloacetamides such asN-methylol-N- methylchloroacetamides. Mixtures of the textile resinsalso are contemplated as being within the scope of the presentinvention.

The amount of the textile resin employed is primarily determined by theultimate use of the garments or articles prepared from the textilefabrics. Very small amounts of the resin afford some improvement andlarge amounts even greater improvements although the aestheticproperties may be affected. Hence, the amount of resin employed ispreferably that which will afford the desired crease retention and flatdry properties while not adversely affecting the hand. In the presentinvention, the amount of textile resin in the pad bath may vary betweenabout 2 and 30 percent by weight, and the amount of the resin on thetextile material should be in the range of between 2 to 20 percent basedon the dry weight of the textile material.

As mentioned above, a textile resin catalyst also may be included withthe resin. The particular catalyst employed will depend upon thespeciflc textile resin that is applied to the textile material. Forexample, textile resins containing functional groups that are reactiveunder acidic conditions will require acid catalysts. Likewise, when thefunctional group is reactive under alkaline conditions, a base catalystis used. The most common acid acting catalyst of the metal salts such asmagnesium chloride, zinc nitrate and zinc fluoroborate and the aminosalts such as monoethanolamine hydrochloride. Examples of base actingcatalysts include metal salts such as sodium carbonate, potassiumcarbonate and potassium bicarbonate.

The amount of catalyst used is that which is conventionally used inactivating the reaction between textile resins and the textilesubstrate, for example, up to about 15 percent by weight and preferablyfrom about I to 7 percent.

The solutions or emulsions of the fluorocarbon compounds, textile resinsand catalysts can be applied to the textile fabrics by conventionaltechniques. After application of the emulsion or solution, the fabric ispassed through squeeze rolls or other similar devices to remove excesssolution or emulsion and thereafter dried and heated in a curing oven toeffect the desired crosslinking reactions and convert the resins to thethermoset state. Temperatures of at least about C. and preferably from150 to 210C. are employed. Curing times at these temperatures varieswith the particular system employed. However, the treatment necessary tocause reaction and/or curing of the textile resin is generally between 1and 30 minutes. It is believed that during this final curing or postheating step, additional wax volatilizes from the first compositionthrough the second composition thereby providing fabrics havingexcellent vapor transmission.

On some occasions, it is desirable to include other substances in thesecond treatment in addition to the fluorocarbon compound, textile resinand catalyst. Examples of such substances include emulsifying andwetting agents, softeners such as polyethylene and other known textiletreating agents which do not adversely affect the benefits andadvantages achieved from the other substances.

The water vapor transmissible characteristics of thefabrics prepared inaccordance with the process of this invention are determined inaccordance with standard test procedure ASTM designation: E 96-66. Thedetails of this test method are described in The 1969 Book of ASTMStandards published by the American Society for Testing Materials,Philadelphia, Pennsyl- The water resistance of the fabrics prepared inaccordance with the process of this inventioncan be measured inaccordance with the procedure set forth ,in ASTM test designation D583-58 and AATCC Method 35-1967. This water resistance test is referredto as the rain test, and it measures the resistance of fabrics to thepenetration of water by impact, and thus can be used to predict theprobable rain penetration resistance of fabrics. In this test, an 8 inchby 8 inch fabric test specimen is backed by a 6 inch by 6 inch piece ofblotting paper which has been weighed to the nearest gram. Thecombination is placed in a standard rain tester, and the fabric sampleis subjected to a 3 foot head of water for a period of 5 minutes. At theend of this period, the increase in weight of the blotting paper isdetermined to the nearest 0.1 gram.

The following examples illustrate the preferred embodiments of thepresent invention. Unless otherwise indicated, all parts and percentagesare by weight.

EXAMPLE I A poplin fabric made from 65 percent polyester and 35 percentcotton fibers consisting of 128 ends and 82 picks with 4.5 yards/poundis impregnated with an aqueous mixture containing 49.1 parts of a butylacrylate polymer latex, having a film stiffening temperature ofapproximately l8C. (Rhoplex 'K-87, available from Rohm and Haas Company,46 percent solids), 1.3 parts of a 10 percent oxalic acid solution, 24parts of a paraffin wax solution (Crolene LC from Crown Metro Company,40 percent solids) having a melting point of 28C. and 5.9 parts of WicaThica 6038, a neutralized polyacrylate thickener available from WicaChemical Company, to a wet pickup of about 50 percent by weight based onthe weight of the fabric. The fabric is dried in air. Samples of the airdried coated fabric are then subjected to a temperature of 188C. for 4minutes. The vapor transmissibility is determined in accordance withthe. test procedure described previously and is found to be 556 g/hr/mfor the air dried fabric and 769 .g/hr/m for thepost heated coatedfabric. 7 1

When the above experiment is repeated except that the paraffin wax isomitted from the composition, the vapor transmission of the air driedfabric is 490 g/hr/m and the post heated fabric is 488 g/hr/m indicatingthat the wax is an essential ingredient for obtaining coatings havingimproved vapor transmissibility.

EXAMPLE 11 The procedure of Example I is repeated except that theacrylate latex is replaced by an equivalent amount of Rhoplex E485acrylate latex having a film stiffening temperature of 40C. The vaportransmission of the airdried fabric is determined to be 613 g/hr/m whilethat of the post heated coated fabric is found to be 889 g/hr/mindicating a 45 percent change resulting from the post heatingoperation.

1 EXAMPLEIII The procedure of Example I is repeated except that theacrylate latex is replaced by a self-crosslinking acrylate polymeremulsion of about 90 parts of butyl acrylate, 10 parts of acrylonitrileand from about two and three parts based on the weight of the butylacrylate and the acrylonitrile of N-methylol acrylamide. This emulationis commercially available from Rohm and Haas Company as a 46 percentsolids latex under fening temperature of this latex is 47C.

EXAMPLE IV The procedure of Example I is repeated except that the postheated fabric is topped with a water repellent composition comprisingabout parts of water, 18 parts of Reactant 101 (dihydroxy dimethylolethylene urea), 3.2 parts of zinc nitrate catalyst, 3.5 parts of aperfluorobutyl acrylate water repellent marketed by Minnesota Mining andManufacturing Company as PC 208, 5 parts of Nalan W (a water repellentextender from Du Pont, 4 parts of a polyethylene softener and 0.1 partof a wetting agent to a wet pickup of about 40 percent by weight basedon the weight of the fabric. The topped fabric is then dried at atemperature of 160C. for about 1 minute and thereafter cured at atemperature of 188C. for 3 minutes. This fabric is found to be excellentas a rainwear fabric exhibiting improved vapor transmission and waterresistance as determined by the rain test described previously.

EXAMPLE V The procedure of Example 1 is repeated except that theparaffin wax'is replaced by a paraffin wax having a melting point of53C. (Nopco 1055X wax available from Nopco Chemical Company.) The fabrictreated with this composition exhibits excellent vapor transmission.

EXAMPLE VI The procedure of Example I is repeated except that a refinedparaffin wax is utilized having a melting point of 84C.

EXAMPLE VII The procedure of Example I is repeated except that the postheated fabric is sprayed on bothsides with FC208 and dried at 160C. for1 minute.

That which is claimed is: Y

1. The process for preparing vapor transmissible polymer coated textilefabric comprising the steps of a. applying to the fabric a compositioncomprising a polymer compound having a film stiffening temperaturebetween about l0 and -50C. and at least about 10 percent by weight ofthe composition of a wax havinga melting point in the range of fromabout 15 to C., and

b. heating the fabric and the composition to a temperature of at leastabout C. to volatilize some of the wax.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein the fabric and composition are heatedto a temperature of from about 150 to 200C. for at least 1 minute.

3. The process of claim 1 wherein the wax is a paraffin wax.

4. The process of claim 1 wherein the polymer compound is an acrylicpolymer 5. The process of claim 4 wherein the acrylic polymer ispredominantly a butyl acrylate polymer.

6. The process of claim 1 wherein the textile fabric contains a blend ofnatural and synthetic fibers.

7. A process for preparing a vapor transmissible water resistantfabriccomprising the steps of a. applying to a textile fabric acomposition compris- 8. The process of claim 7 wherein the dried fabricis ing a polymer compound having a film stiffening cured at atemperature of 160 to 210C. for 1 to 4 temperature between about l and50C. and minutes.

at least about 10 P y weight of p 9. The process of claim 7 wherein thewax is a paraftion of a wax having a melting point in the range of 5 fiwax. from about 150 to 10. The process of claim 7 wherein the polymercomb. heating the fabric and the composition to a temound is an acr llcol mer. perature of at least about 150C. to volatilize some p y p y 11.The process of claim 7 wherein the water repelof the lent com osition isa 01 meric fluorocarbon c. treating the fabric with a water repellentcomposi- 10 p p mm, and 12. The process of claim 7 wherein the textilefabric d. drying the fabric at a temperature from about 150 comams atleast some polyester fibers to210C.

1. The process for preparing vapor transmissible polymer coated textilefabric comprising the steps of a. applying to the fabric a compositioncomprising a polymer compound having a film stiffening temperaturebetween about -10* and -50*C. and at least about 10 pErcent by weight ofthe composition of a wax having a melting point in the range of fromabout 15* to 90*C., and b. heating the fabric and the composition to atemperature of at least about 150*C. to volatilize some of the wax. 2.The process of claim 1 wherein the fabric and composition are heated toa temperature of from about 150* to 200*C. for at least 1 minute.
 3. Theprocess of claim 1 wherein the wax is a paraffin wax.
 4. The process ofclaim 1 wherein the polymer compound is an acrylic polymer
 5. Theprocess of claim 4 wherein the acrylic polymer is predominantly a butylacrylate polymer.
 6. The process of claim 1 wherein the textile fabriccontains a blend of natural and synthetic fibers.
 7. A process forpreparing a vapor transmissible water resistant fabric comprising thesteps of a. applying to a textile fabric a composition comprising apolymer compound having a film stiffening temperature between about -10*and -50*C. and at least about 10 percent by weight of the composition ofa wax having a melting point in the range of from about 15* to 60*C., b.heating the fabric and the composition to a temperature of at leastabout 150*C. to volatilize some of the wax, c. treating the fabric witha water repellent composition, and d. drying the fabric at a temperaturefrom about 150* to 210*C.
 8. The process of claim 7 wherein the driedfabric is cured at a temperature of 160* to 210*C. for 1 to 4 minutes.9. The process of claim 7 wherein the wax is a paraffin wax.
 10. Theprocess of claim 7 wherein the polymer compound is an acrylic polymer.11. The process of claim 7 wherein the water repellent composition is apolymeric fluorocarbon.